Vehicle cantilever seat

ABSTRACT

A cantilever seat or chair frame is adjustably suspended from a vehicle sidewall from a plate in the sidewall at the upper inner end of the chair back adjacent the wall and with a cushionconcealed diagonal strut extending through a side rail of the back downwardly to the outer lower end of the frame adjacent the junction of the back and chair seat. Safety energy-absorbing panels are provided by the seat and arm rests together with cross braces to provide torque resistance.

United States Patent [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] Inventor Chester J. Barecki 915 Liebmann 933 Zeidler..........

948 Richardson 957 Hoven et al....

958 Schooler 962 Macklin 966 Towns.... 969 Barecki et Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg AUorney-Dawson, Tilton, Fallon & Lungmus 12 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

ABSTRACT: A cantilever seat or chair frame is adjustably 297/450, suspended from a vehicle sidewall from a plate in the sidewall 297/232, 297/421 at the upper inner end of the chair back adjacent the wall and with a cushion int. A47c 7/00, -concea1ed diagonal strut extending through a side rail of the back downwardly to the outer lower end of the frame adjacent the junction of the back and chair seat. Safety energyabsorbing panels are provided by the seat and arm 183, 232, 244, 396, 445,450, 451, 416-422', 52/27, 33; 108/42, 108; 312/245; 85/42; 296/93 rests together with cross braces to provide torque resistance,

PATENTEDunv 9 um SHEET 2 [1F 3 INVI'INTOR PATENTEDHUY 9 mm SHEET 3 OF 3 ENT( )R l INV Chester J. Borec'ki By @au/uovv, (jiorv, Yalfrv A) Z ATTORNEYS VEHICLE CANTILEVER SEAT BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY Floor supports for chairs in a vehicle impede the use of cleaning devices and greatly increase the problem of keeping vehicles clean and sanitary while also increasing labor costs. If it were possible to sweep trash from seats onto an open unimpeded floor, quick and complete removal could be accomplished in a matter of minutes. Further, if the space below vehicle chairs were clear, there would be greater leg room, better air circulation, and article space.

I have discovered that a chair frame can be safely and securely suspended at one end from a vehicle sidewall so as to provide clear space below the seat. By employing a diagonal strut extending from the upper inner end of the chair back downwardly to the outer portion of the frame adjacent the junction of back and seat so that the inner end of the seat abuts the wall, an effective suspension is accomplished. Further, by securing the inner lower end of the seat to the wall by adjustable spaced fastening means, the chair seat is anchored firmly and supported at the desired level. Since vehicle walls are not even in a vertical plane and irregular areas are found, I provide adjustable fastening means for securing the upper and lower inner ends of the chair to the wall.

To resist torque, I provide the chair with brace structures and also utilize for this purpose energy-absorbing safety panels in the back and armrest structures, while also utilizing telescoping polygonal tube rails for given additional strength at the points of greatest stress. The tube structure also provides unifying means of supporting a top rail handgrip.

In the foregoing structure, a load-carrying diagonal strut serves as a part of the back frame for supporting the cushions together with its load-bearing support function, and the seat so equipped with the diagonal strut may be secured upon anchor means carried by the wall in a variety of ways.

DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings;

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a two-passenger seat or chair;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the seat;

FIG. 3, a perspective view of the seat frame taken from the wall side;

FIG. 4, a side view in elevation of the chair frame from the wall side;

FIG. 5, a broken side view in elevation of attachment screws or bolts which may be employed;

FIG. 6, a sectional view taken through the back cushion on the aisle side looking toward the aisle;

FIG. 7, a fragmentary view of the upper corner of the aisle back cushion from behind the chair, showing the means for attaching the handgrip, the view being taken at line 7-7 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 8, a broken side view in elevation of the handgrip taken from the aisle side.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In general, I suspend a metal reinforced chair having a seat and back unified for resisting torque, the suspension being from the upper inner end of the back and the load being transmitted largely through a diagonal strut or brace extending from the top inner portion of the back downwardly to a point near the junction of back and seat. The wall of the vehicle is reinforced and preferably provided with a plate which carries an anchoring bolt on which the back is adjustably mounted. I prefer to tap the plate to provide a threaded opening for receiving a bolt which extends through the chair back, the bolt head being reduced so that nuts may be passed over the head and the head being square or polygonal to receive a wrench. The inner end of the seat may rest upon a supporting ledge carried by the vehicle, but I prefer to support the inner end of the seat by screw or bolt means like those described for securing the back, the seat supports being spaced apart preferably about the width of the seat to resist torsion.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, 10 designates a two-passenger chair unit suspended from the wall 11 by means of three hidden attachment screws or bolts such as bolt 12 or screw 13, and such a chair does not require legs or a pedestal to support the chair at the aisle side 14.

The chair consists of a steel frame 15 covered in the rear and at the sides by a contoured plastic back panel 16, covered aisle arm 17, covered wall arm 18, aisle seat cushion 19, wall seat cushion 20, aisle back cushion 21, wall back cushion 22, and a handgrip 23. The back cushions extend over the top of the seat back and form padded crash panels 24 and 25 on the rear side of the back.

As seen best in FIG. 3, the chair frame 15 consists of a seat area 26, a back area 27, an aisle ann frame 28, and a wall arm frame 29.

The seat frame 26 consists of a transverse front rectangular tube 30, a transverse rear rectangular tube 31, and two cross tubes or brace rods 32 for added support and torque resistance, and including also the lower portion 33 of the aisle tube 34, the lower portion 35 of the wall tube 36, and reinforcement plates 37 and 38 on the aisle side and 39 and 40 on the wall side. The seat is provided with serpentine cushion support springs 41.

The back frame area 27 begins at the rear transverse tube 31 at the bottom and extends upward and rearward at about a 15 angle. It consists of the aisle tube 34, wall tube 36, an upper transverse generally square tube 42, a diagonal support ing tube or strut 43 with its lower end 44 at the aisle tube 34 and its upper end 45 at the wall tube 36, and two cross braces formed of deformable metal and in the shape of a hat in cross section, the lower brace being 46 and the upper 47. The head rest section consists of the top transverse tube 48 open at both ends 49 for the hand grip 23, the square tube extensions 50 and 51 fitting into the end tubes 34 and 36 and thus providing reinforcements at 52. A center support tube 53 connects the members 42 and 48, all as seen best in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The arm frames 28 and 29 consist of two vertical tubes 54, an outer panel 55 having holes 56 in the forward portion for reducing the weight of the structure, and three embosses 57, which are hat-shaped in cross section, and with the upper area 58 flat for supporting the armrest pad 59.

Any suitable means for attaching the chair to the wall may be employed, as heretofore described in general terms. I prefer, however, the structure shown best in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 in which attachment screws or bolts 12 and 13 are utilized. The attachment screws slide into holes in the chair wall tube 36 and are turned into threaded holes 60 in the wall plate member 61 or 71. The screw or bolt 12 has a separating shoulder 62 between the threaded portions 63 and 64. The smaller threaded portion 63 slips into the chair wall tube 36 and is locked into position by the nut 65 after the larger threaded portion 64 has been turned into the wall member 61 to the desired amount as by turning the screw with a wrench on the square or polygonal end 66.

Attachment screw 13 has one continuous threaded portion 67, without a separating shoulder, and has the square end 68 for the adjustment wrench. It makes use of two nuts instead of one nut and a shoulder portion. One nut 69 acts as a shoulder while the second nut 70 is a locking nut to hold the chair rigidly in place after the adjustment is made. The screw or bolt 13 has the advantage of providing greater latitude in the adjustment operation and need not be turned into the wall member 71 an excessive amount to position the chair because the nut 69 can be turned to achieve the desired adjustment and then nut 70 can be tightened to lock the adjustment screw in place.

Of the screws shown in FIG. 5, screw 13 requires a smaller threaded hole 71 in the wall member than screw 12 in the wall member 61. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the upper screw may be employed for leveling the chair and the two lower screws may be used for achieving a position perpendicular to the wall.

In the assembly of the chair structure, the handgrip 23 is attached to the aisle side of the back before the back cushion 21 is attached. The two halves of the plastic cover grip are brought together, the upper half 73 having two weld nuts 74 embedded in its foam rubber arid the lower half 75 having holes for screws 76. While the hand grip covers may be formed of any suitable material, I prefer to form them, as well as the armrests 59, of a foam plastic having an integral skin, such as self-skinning plastic foam. I

The assembled grip 23 is attached by sliding the projection 77 into the hole 49 of the top tube 48 and inserting a screw 78 through the tube and projection into the weld nut 79. A second screw 80 is inserted at the end and threaded into a weld nut 81 in the side extended tube 50.

The plastic back panel 16 is preferably attached next with screws 82 along the upper tube 42 and additional screws 83 along the lower edge of the rear tube 31. A channel strip 84 is attached to the back with screws 85. The strip may be made with the outer flange 86 bent at an angle less than 90and then bent up into position after the cushion is in place.

The back cushions 21 and 22 may each consist of a piece of formed metal inner panel 87 to which the foam pad 88 is attached, and the upholstery material 89 may be stretched over the pad and glued to the back side of the inner panel. The assembled pad is slipped onto the back frame, under the handgrip projection 90 and into the slot of the channel 84. The bottom of the pad may be attached to the rear tube 31 by metal tabs 91 which are attached to the tube with screws 92. The seat cushions may then be placed in position in the usual manner.

While I have shown screw members passing through the inner frame portion of the seat frame and into threaded plates within the wall 11, the threaded plates within the wall being anchor means for receiving the screws, it will be understood that the walls may be equipped with other types of anchor means, such as threaded bolts or hooks, etc., and the inner frame of the chair may be equipped with corresponding elements for interlocking or attachment to such anchors. In any of such structures, the diagonal strut will serve its important function of carrying a large portion of the load while at the same time it is entirely concealed from view by cushions, the diagonal strut itself serving as a back support for cushions.

While in the foregoing specification I have set out a specific structure in considerable detail for illustrating embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that such details may be varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

1 claim:

1. In combination with a vehicle side wall extending upwardly from a floor, a generally elongated chair frame having one end adjacent said wall and the other end remote from said wall and having seat and back portions joined at said ends, means for supporting said chair upon said wall from the end adjacent said wall with the remainder of the chair freely suspended and spaced from said floor, said means comprising a diagonal strut extending from the upper portion of said back adjacent said wall downwardly to a lower outer portion of said back remote from said wall, and means for anchoring said upper portion of said back upon said wall with the lower inner portion of said seat abutting said wall.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which fastening means anchor the inner end of said seat to said wall.

3. The structure of claim 2 in which said fastening means securing said seat to said wall are spaced apart about the width of said seat.

4. The structure of claim 1 in which said diagonal strut is an integral part of said back.

5. The structure of claim 1 in which said anchor means includes a plate provided with a threaded recess and said seat rotatably carries a bolt having a threaded end engaging said recess, said bolt having a reduced end of polygonal shape for receiving a wrench.

6. The structure of claim 5 in which said bolt is provided at an intermediate point with threads and in which a nut may be passed over the reduced end of said bolt for engaging said threads.

7. The structure of claim 1 in which said back is provlded at its rear with a channel strip and in which a cushion extends over said back and has a padded portion overlapping the top rear portion of said back, the end of said padded portion being clamped within said channel strip.

8. In combination with a wall extending upwardly from a floor and having a support anchor, a cantilever chair having one end adjacent said wall and an outer end remote from said wall, said chair having seat and back portions joined at said ends and said back having an upper inner end adjacent said wall anchor, and means connecting said back to said anchor whereby said chair is suspended by engagement of its inner end with said wall and said anchor and with the outer end of said chair freely spaced from said floor, said chair back being provided with a load-bearing member extending from the upper end of said back downwardly to the lower outer end of said back.

9. The structure of claim 8 in which said seat and back are connected at their ends by frame anns.

10. The structure of claim 8 in which said wall is provided with anchors aligned with said seat and means connect the inner ends of said seat with said anchors.

11. The structure of claim 10 in which said connector means are spaced apart about the width of the seat.

12. The structure of claim 10 in which said means are adjustable to vary the distance between said seat and said wall. 

1. In combination with a vehicle side wall extending upwArdly from a floor, a generally elongated chair frame having one end adjacent said wall and the other end remote from said wall and having seat and back portions joined at said ends, means for supporting said chair upon said wall from the end adjacent said wall with the remainder of the chair freely suspended and spaced from said floor, said means comprising a diagonal strut extending from the upper portion of said back adjacent said wall downwardly to a lower outer portion of said back remote from said wall, and means for anchoring said upper portion of said back upon said wall with the lower inner portion of said seat abutting said wall.
 2. The structure of claim 1 in which fastening means anchor the inner end of said seat to said wall.
 3. The structure of claim 2 in which said fastening means securing said seat to said wall are spaced apart about the width of said seat.
 4. The structure of claim 1 in which said diagonal strut is an integral part of said back.
 5. The structure of claim 1 in which said anchor means includes a plate provided with a threaded recess and said seat rotatably carries a bolt having a threaded end engaging said recess, said bolt having a reduced end of polygonal shape for receiving a wrench.
 6. The structure of claim 5 in which said bolt is provided at an intermediate point with threads and in which a nut may be passed over the reduced end of said bolt for engaging said threads.
 7. The structure of claim 1 in which said back is provided at its rear with a channel strip and in which a cushion extends over said back and has a padded portion overlapping the top rear portion of said back, the end of said padded portion being clamped within said channel strip.
 8. In combination with a wall extending upwardly from a floor and having a support anchor, a cantilever chair having one end adjacent said wall and an outer end remote from said wall, said chair having seat and back portions joined at said ends and said back having an upper inner end adjacent said wall anchor, and means connecting said back to said anchor whereby said chair is suspended by engagement of its inner end with said wall and said anchor and with the outer end of said chair freely spaced from said floor, said chair back being provided with a load-bearing member extending from the upper end of said back downwardly to the lower outer end of said back.
 9. The structure of claim 8 in which said seat and back are connected at their ends by frame arms.
 10. The structure of claim 8 in which said wall is provided with anchors aligned with said seat and means connect the inner ends of said seat with said anchors.
 11. The structure of claim 10 in which said connector means are spaced apart about the width of the seat.
 12. The structure of claim 10 in which said means are adjustable to vary the distance between said seat and said wall. 